I wrote a bash script to check for updates to channels I like. It runs nighly via cron. If there is a new video it automatically downloads it using yt-dlp to my Jellyfin library. There is a yt-dlp flag that incorporates sponsor block. Since I download videos overnight large channels have already been included by sponsor block. So I get videos completely ad and sponsor free.
Everything is done behind a VPN. This approach allows me to completely bypass using a browser further protecting me from tracking.
When I wake up in the morning I have all the new videos from my favorite channels ad and sponsor free. I can watch from my computer, phone, or TV. If I’m away from my home network I use Tailscale to stream to my location.
The only downside I experience is not getting to watch the video until the day after upload.
I started with a Raspberry Pi connected to an external hard drive. As my collection grew I built a server. It has NAS rated drives in RAID with a low end CPU and modest GPU. Now I have a large collection and everything is transcoded on the fly.
I also use the server to host Immich. So I no longer need to use Google photos or drive.